How to Play M4B Files on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac

BookPlayer (free, open source) plays “M4B/M4A/MP3/FLAC based audiobooks” with chapters, speed, smart rewind and a sleep timer.¹

1. Install BookPlayer from the App Store (the one by Gianni Carlo; another, unrelated app uses the same name).
2. Put the M4B in the Files app (from iCloud Drive, a download or a USB drive), AirDrop it from a Mac, or send a ZIP of a folder.¹
3. Open it with BookPlayer, or import it from inside the app. Chapters appear in the player.

Apple Books: on a Mac, import the audiobook into Books, then sync audiobooks to the iPhone through Finder: select the device, click Audiobooks and tick “Sync audiobooks”.^4,5 Apple doesn’t document adding audio files to Books directly on an iPhone.

Android decodes AAC in MPEG-4 files natively, so any audiobook app can play M4B.⁸

• Voice: free, open source, no ads or paid upgrades; plays M4B, MP3, M4A, OGG and Opus; stops at the end of a chapter, skips silence, bookmarks.⁶
• Smart AudioBook Player: put each book in its own subfolder under a “My Audiobooks” folder; 30 days of the full version, then a basic version, or a one-time purchase; no ads.⁷ Its release notes mention M4B chapter support.¹⁹

1. Install VLC (free; current version 3.0.24).⁹
2. Open the M4B. Use Playback, Chapter to jump between chapters.¹⁰

Windows’ built-in Media Player lists MP3, AAC and M4A among its supported formats, but not M4B.¹¹ If it won’t open the file, rename a copy from .m4b to .m4a: it is the same format. VLC and audiobook apps also remember your place better than a music player.

1. Open Books, choose File, Import, select the audiobook and click Import.⁴
2. Or open it in VLC and use the Playback menu for chapters.¹⁰

Apple’s guide names MP3 and Audible audiobooks for import but doesn’t mention M4B by name; if Books won’t take a file, VLC or a browser player will.⁴

Chromebook’s Files app supports .m4a and .mp3 but doesn’t list .m4b.¹² Rename a copy to .m4a, install an Android audiobook app such as Voice if your Chromebook runs Android apps, or use a browser player.

Every modern browser plays MPEG-4 audio.¹⁷ Our audiobook player runs in the browser on any device: drop an M4B or a folder of MP3s and it reads the chapters and cover, remembers your place and speed per book, has a sleep timer and bookmarks, and can be installed to work offline. Your files stay on your device.